Abstract
Identifying the effects of political endorsements has historically been difficult. Before the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In this article, we assess the impact of this endorsement using, as measures of Winfrey's influence, subscriptions to her magazine and sales of books she recommends. We find that her endorsement increased Obama's votes and financial contributions, and also increased overall voter turnout. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and previous elections, nor with underlying political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for approximately 1 million additional votes for Obama.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 355-384 |
| Number of pages | 30 |
| Journal | Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2013 |
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ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Economics and Econometrics
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Law
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Can celebrity endorsements affect political outcomes? evidence from the 2008 US democratic presidential primary. / Garthwaite, Craig; Moore, Timothy J.
In: Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Vol. 29, No. 2, 01.04.2013, p. 355-384.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - Can celebrity endorsements affect political outcomes? evidence from the 2008 US democratic presidential primary
AU - Garthwaite, Craig
AU - Moore, Timothy J.
PY - 2013/4/1
Y1 - 2013/4/1
N2 - Identifying the effects of political endorsements has historically been difficult. Before the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In this article, we assess the impact of this endorsement using, as measures of Winfrey's influence, subscriptions to her magazine and sales of books she recommends. We find that her endorsement increased Obama's votes and financial contributions, and also increased overall voter turnout. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and previous elections, nor with underlying political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for approximately 1 million additional votes for Obama.
AB - Identifying the effects of political endorsements has historically been difficult. Before the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama was endorsed by talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In this article, we assess the impact of this endorsement using, as measures of Winfrey's influence, subscriptions to her magazine and sales of books she recommends. We find that her endorsement increased Obama's votes and financial contributions, and also increased overall voter turnout. No connection is found between the measures of Oprah's influence and previous elections, nor with underlying political preferences. Our results suggest that Winfrey's endorsement was responsible for approximately 1 million additional votes for Obama.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84876370070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84876370070&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jleo/ewr031
DO - 10.1093/jleo/ewr031
M3 - Article
VL - 29
SP - 355
EP - 384
JO - Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization
JF - Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization
SN - 8756-6222
IS - 2
ER -